Shutting Down Fornjot

6 hours ago

Fornjot project is being discontinued after nearly 6 years of development, despite the author's initial hopes and improved recent progress.
The decision to quit stemmed from realizing the project would require 2-3 more years to build a foundation for delivering meaningful value beyond existing tools.
The author could no longer justify accepting sponsorship money without a clear path to creating something substantially different and better.
Key mistakes identified: extrapolating from early success unrealistically, seeking sponsorship too early without a product, and sticking exclusively to incremental improvements.
Other errors included responding to sponsorship crises with half-measures instead of full commitment or quitting, and allowing the project vision to become muddled.
A significant architectural breakthrough was achieved through late-stage prototyping, but integration into the existing codebase was never completed due to depleted energy.
The author concludes with lessons learned about project scope, funding timing, and the balance between incremental work and prototyping, hoping to apply these insights to future endeavors.

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